John Rudometkin was an American professional basketball player, formerly of the New York Knicks and San Francisco Warriors in the National Basketball Association.
Education
Before attending the University of Southern California, Rudometkin spent one year playing basketball at Allan Hancock, a junior college located in his hometown of Santa Maria, California. He averaged 18.2 points per game (ppg) in 30 games during the 1958-1959 season.
Rudometkin then enrolled at University of Southern California in the fall of 1959 to play for the Trojans. As a 6 ft 6 in (198 m) center, he went on to have a highly successful career in college.
In his three varsity seasons at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institution, Rudometkin held career averages of 18.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in 79 games played.
He scored 1,434 points, which stood as the school record for 23 years, and his 18.8 average is still the best career average at University of Southern California. In 1961, he led the Trojans to an outright conference title, which through 2009-2010 remains their most recent outright conference championship. In all three seasons Rudometkin led the team in scoring and was named the team Most Valuable Player, and as a senior in 1961-1962 he was named a consensus second-team All-American.
Career
He was selected in the second round as the 11th pick in the 1962 National Basketball Association Draft by the Knicks and spent three seasons playing in the league. Rudometkin was nicknamed "the Reckless Russian" by Chick Hearn, the legendary Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster who used to broadcast University of Southern California men"s basketball games before transitioning to the National Basketball Association. After his college career ended, Rudometkin was selected in the second round as the 11th overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 1962 National Basketball Association Draft. He spent the 1962-1963, 1963-1964, and part of the 1964-1965 seasons playing for the Knicks until he was signed as a free agent on February 2, 1965, by the San Francisco Warriors, with whom he subsequently finished the season (and his career).
Although Rudometkin played the center position in college, he was moved to play forward in the National Basketball Association. In three professional seasons, Rudometkin averaged 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.
After only three seasons, Rudometkin was forced to prematurely retire from basketball. His stamina weakened noticeably and doctors could not initially determine the cause.
He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin"s lymphoma, a diverse group of blood cancers that include any kind of lymphoma except Hodgkin"s lymphoma. He spent years in treatment, which caused total hair loss, temporary paralysis and the need to learn to walk all over again.
Rudometkin eventually went into remission and cites both medicine and his faith as reasons why he was able to survive the tumor which had encircled his lungs and heart.
After his ordeal, Rudometkin married, had three sons, wrote a book about his experiences and traveled the country as a motivational speaker. He also spent time as a real estate investor and minister. Rudometkin died on August 4, 2015 from chronic lung disease.